9d (edited) • Before surgery
Start here: before surgery
You're here if you've been told you need a knee replacement, you're on a waiting list, or you have a date.
WHAT'S NORMAL TO FEEL RIGHT NOW
Frightened, mostly. Almost everyone is, and almost nobody says it out loud. Fear tells you how you feel. It doesn't tell you whether the operation is right for your knee.
FIVE THINGS WORTH KNOWING BEFORE YOU GO IN
- Recovery takes about a year, not six weeks. Six weeks is when the walking aids usually go. Fair at three months, good at six, right at about twelve.
- Most new knees last. Across 14 national registries, about 82 in 100 were still in place at 25 years.
- Serious complications are uncommon. Fewer than 2 in 100 get a joint infection. About 1 in 40 get a clot with symptoms, which is why the calf signs matter.
- About 17 in 100 aren't satisfied afterwards. The strongest predictor is whether the knee did what they pictured. So ask what yours is likely to give back.
- Kneeling is the slow one. About a third can kneel at a year, nearly half by three years.
READ THESE THREE FIRST
- What Actually Is a Knee Replacement
- The Risks, With Real Numbers
- How to Choose a Surgeon (and the five questions to ask)
DO THESE BEFORE YOUR DATE
- Set up the house: a firm chair with arms, rails, loose rugs gone, a bed on the ground floor if you can.
- Sort the carer's list, the meals and the lift home.
- Write down the three things you want the new knee to let you do, and ask your surgeon how likely each is.
- Ask what you're going home on to prevent clots, and who to ring at 10pm on day four.
THE BOOKLET
Getting Ready for a Knee Replacement: 12 pages of checklists, from deciding to the first 24 hours. It's in the Classroom, in the Ready for Surgery course.
ASK THE GROUP
Tell us your date, or that you're still deciding. What's the one thing you most want to know?
General information, not medical advice. Your own surgeon and physiotherapist know your knee.
Sources: Evans 2019, Lancet · AAOS OrthoInfo · CRISTAL trial, JAMA 2022 · Verhaar 2020 · Bourne 2010 · Nadeem 2021 · healthdirect
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Start here: before surgery
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Knee replacement guides from a physiotherapist. Before surgery, the first twelve weeks and the first year, in order, with printable downloads.
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